Tangy Tamarind Chicken Food

TANGY TAMARIND CHICKEN

Steps:

• Heat oil in a deep pan or skillet (do not smoke).
• Add black pepper powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and add cubed chicken pieces.
• Saute for 5 minutes on medium heat.
• Cover the lid and let chicken cook in its own juices for 15 minutes or until tender on low heat.
• Open the lid and add tamarind pulp, hot tomato sauce, salt and 3/4 cup of water.
• Cover and leave on high heat for 5 minutes.
• Turn off the heat, garnish with fresh parsley sprigs and serve hot on a bed of steamed basmati rice.

TANGY TAMARIND CHICKPEAS - KHATA IMLEE CHANA (SLOW COOKER)

Steps:

• Place the chickpeas and water in a 5 quart slow cooker .
• In a food processor, puree all of the remaining ingredients, except the lemon, onion for garnish and bread.
• Add to slow cooker, stir, and cook on High for 10 hours.
• Add the half lemon and cook another 2 hours on High. After cooking, remove and discard the lemon.
• Top with the sliced red onion and serve with hot naan. (I ran out of naan and wrapped these in warm flour tortillas - very good).
• To make half the quantity, use a 3 1/2 qt slow cooker.
• Note: I loved these plain, but loved them even more with a cucumber salad. Mix chopped cucumbers - I used seedless - and some chopped red onion if you like, stir in some sour cream or thick yogurt. Spoon onto the chickpeas and naan - the contrast between the spicy chickpeas and the cool creamy cucumbers is out of this world!

SPICY TAMARIND-GLAZED GRILLED CHICKEN WINGS

Steps:

• Whisk tamarind purée, fish sauce, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, cumin, and 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt in a medium bowl until combined and a loose paste forms. Set tamarind glaze aside.
• Pat wings dry with paper towels, then season all over with remaining 2 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 tsp. Morton kosher salt. Place in a large bowl; add half of tamarind glaze and toss to coat. Chill 15 minutes. Set remaining glaze aside.
• Meanwhile, place onion in a bowl of ice water and set aside.
• Prepare a grill for medium indirect heat (for a charcoal grill, bank coals on one side of grill; for a gas grill, leave one or two burners off). Arrange wings on grate over indirect heat, making sure not to overcrowd. Brush top of each wing with some reserved glaze. Cover and grill 15 minutes. Uncover, turn wings over, and brush other side with glaze. Re-cover and grill until wings are golden brown and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a wing registers 165°F, about 15 minutes.
• Brush wings with more glaze, then move over direct heat and grill until charred in spots, 1-2 minutes per side.
• Transfer wings to a platter. Drain onion and place on paper towels; pat dry. Scatter onion over wings and top with cilantro. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.

TAMARIND CHICKEN WINGS

Steps:

• Chop the shallots.
• Throw all the marinade ingredients into a food processor and whiz till you get a nice smooth paste.
• Taste the marinade. It should have a pronounced tamarind-y and sweet flavour. Don't worry about the saltiness yet.
• Take the chicken wings and cut each wing into two at the joint.
• In a large bowl, add the chicken wings and marinade and mix well with your hands.
• Cover and leave it to marinate overnight in the refrigerator, even 24 hours if you can.
• After the marinating time is over, you'll find that some of the marinade has pooled in your bowl.
• Transfer the chicken wings to another bowl, gently shaking off any excess marinade.
• Now you'll have marinated wings in one bowl and excess marinade in the other.
• We're about to deep-fry the chicken wings and the excess marinade will form our dipping sauce.
• The wings must be fried only when required so they stay hot.
• To make the sauce, take a pan, heat it, and pour the extra marinade into it.
• Add about 1/2 cup of water or chicken stock and cook over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes till you have a sweet and fruity-sour sauce the consistency of tomato ketchup.
• At this point, taste the sauce for saltiness and flavour balance.
• Adjust if required. Turn off the heat.
• For the wings: In a frying pan, heat about 300 ml oil for deep-frying.
• Fry as many wings on medium-high heat at one time as you can without crowding them too much.
• This should take about 5 minutes or till it turns a nice brown (not golden brown; we want them darker than that.).
• Remove the first batch to a platter and dry the extra oil off with paper towels.
• Repeat this till you've fried the entire batch of wings. Resist the temptation to eat them after they're fried. Actually, go ahead, try one piece. ;).
• Now you have deep-fried wings and a dipping sauce.
• How you want to take it from here is up to you.
• You can serve the wings with the sauce on the side, or you can pour the sauce on top of the wings with a spoon to coat them. The second option is messier to eat, but more fun.